Starting salaries for workers in Britain’s technology sector are more than 60 per cent higher than the average pay in the UK because of high demand for software engineers, a recruitment firm has found. uk tech sector

Research by Hackajob, which helps companies to hire engineers, developers and data analysts, found that 46 per cent of workers in the sector had turned down a job because they had already been offered a role elsewhere, underscoring the tight conditions in the technology labour market. It said 16 per cent had rejected an offer because the pay was not good enough and that average starting pay in the industry was at least 64 per cent higher than the median salary in 2021 of £25,971.

Start-ups had a hard time making successful offers with only 3% of successful placements being made by a company this size.
Enterprise-level companies had over 50% of successful placements on the hackajob platform, in part due to the perceived stability of a larger corporation in a cost-of-living crisis

What salaries are being offered for UK tech sector?

Money talks. With offers from £25,000 for very early careers to £137,000, the salaries being offered vary widely in the tech industry. Whether scaling up, implementing a new business solution or simply moving into digital transformation, tech roles can support organisations development as a whole and are often business critical and their salaries can often reflect this.

With early careers roles starting at £25,000, junior roles are in line with the nation’s average, however what is clear is that the room for progression and the earning potential is astronomical, with salaries of almost £140,000 not including bonuses or shares. Demand for engineers is still higher than supply, so companies can expect to see tech salaries to continue to rise for 2023.

Salary Bandings

There is a delicate balance to be made between application processes to confirm that the right candidate is found and ensuring that candidates don’t feel as though they have to jump through circus-sized hoops to gain a role.
When strict salary bandings are removed, it allows for the right candidate to feel secure in their decision to choose a company and is critical to the level of trust they feel they’ve received from a potential employer. After all, there is always room for negotiation.

Where are all the women in tech? uk tech sector

Contrary to popular belief, and despite a clear gap between salary expectations of men and women, organisations are doing more than ever before to hire more diversely. Diversity of thought in employees positively affects the bottom line of organisations, and this has translated to searching further afield for female tech talent.

From Hackajob data, we found that the top locations that women were being placed from aside from London (which reigned supreme across all genders), were Manchester, Reading, Birmingham, Leicester and Milton Keynes. Compared to male tech talent, there was a more even split across the country for a number of women who were placed in a new role from 2021-2022.

London remains one of the most highly requested and accepted locations for new tech hires over the past year, making up 43% of all tech hires. The caveat, however, is that although more people were willing to accept a job in London, it doesn’t necessarily mean that was their ideal location.
As companies look to hire more local talent as the UK returns to the office in droves, survey data show a huge demand for Northern tech talent with at least 4 of the top 6 locations after London all being located outside of the nation’s capital. Many organizations now in search of a Northern hub for their company settle on Manchester. With a booming tech industry and great transport links to the rest of the country, it comes as no surprise. uk tech sector
But competition is fierce, so companies must offer more attractive salaries, perks and benefits in order to attract Northern talent.

Similarly to company size and current location, much is to be understood from the breakdown of tech roles in different market areas across genders. As seen below, more women are being hired for entry-level roles. This falls in line with national efforts to improve tech representation for women, however, this isn’t reflected in more senior roles.
For example, Engineering Manager was one of the top positions for male tech talent but didn’t appear for women. Whilst there is still some way to go to improve representation for diverse tech talent, employers can action their intentions by providing support to coding
bootcamps, university career days, upskilling existing talent within the wider organisation, and balanced interview panels.

Industry

Amidst the rising place of inflation and cost of living, it wouldn’t be amiss to ask – what kind of organisations are hiring for tech roles and how much will this affect the tech sector going forward?
Unsurprisingly, consultancies made the highest amount of successful hires in 2021-2022. Below is a breakdown of subcategories within these consultancies: clearly, technology is still making an impact across sectors, so organisations can breathe easy knowing they’re investing in their futures.

Outside of Consultancy, Software, Media & Broadcasting and Retail were the next top 3 industries for placements with advancements in Education and Financial Services too.
Every industry wants a slice of the tech pie, and some are forging ahead.

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